Marquez fights for second in 22-lap Qatar thriller, Lorenzo scores on debut

Marquez lit up the Qatar night with second place after a race-long brawl as Lorenzo worked his way up to 13th place.

With Warm Up held in the late afternoon and still under the daylight, it only offered the Repsol Honda Team a brief chance to confirm their settings ahead of 2019’s opening Grand Prix. As the sun set and the floodlights flickered to life the ambient temperature settled at 18ºC with the track at 19ºC.

Marc Marquez held his own in the opening laps, keeping out of trouble and moving ahead of the chasing pack with Andrea Dovizioso. The reigning World Champion was soon joined in his hunt for victory, a frantic melee between the leading seven riders playing out over the next 20 laps. Just 0.023s split Marquez from Andrea Dovizioso as they crossed the line, Marquez opening his 2019 account with 20 points.

After yesterdays pair of heavy falls, Jorge Lorenzo’s Repsol Honda Team debut was heavily restricted by lingering pain in his back and shoulder. Focusing on his own rhythm and understanding the Honda over race distance, Lorenzo battled to 13th to earn three points on his debut.

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow completed the podium in third.

The MotoGP™ World Championship now prepares for Round Two at the Argentina Grand Prix, March 29 – 31 hosted at the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit.

Marc Marquez

2nd

“It was exactly the same as last year! I tried to push hard but here when you overtake you just run wide and you can’t keep the line. I tried to be there, to push a little and just be there until the end. I’m very happy with these 20 points because normally we struggle here and this weekend especially we worked a lot. We changed some things that meant I couldn’t push like I normally do in braking. But we finished the race and take good points.”

Jorge Lorenzo

13th

“There are many positive things today even if where we finished is not what we thought we could achieve. I was very limited by the crash yesterday, it was a very big impact everywhere and especially on my shoulder. It limited everything. From then, I was always slower than at the start of the weekend. I had some problems in the opening laps and lost about three or four seconds there. Without doubt we have much more potential and if we’re not unlucky we can be stronger.”

MotoGP 2019Sunday, March 10th 2019

Race
Round 1
Qatar Grand PrixQatar

Results Session

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Points

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Dovizioso Andrea

4

ITA

25

Ducati Team

Ducati

42'36.902

2

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

20

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

0.023

3

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

16

LCR Honda

Honda

0.320

4

Rins Alex

42

SPA

13

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

0.457

5

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

11

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

0.600

6

Petrucci Danilo

9

ITA

10

Ducati Team

Ducati

2.320

7

Vinales Maverick

12

SPA

9

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

2.481

8

Mir Joan

36

SPA

8

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

5.088

9

Nakagami Takaaki

30

JPN

7

LCR Honda

Honda

7.406

10

Espargaro Aleix

41

SPA

6

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

9.636

11

Morbidelli Franco

21

ITA

5

Petronas Yamaha SRT

Yamaha

9.647

12

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

4

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

12.774

13

Lorenzo Jorge

99

SPA

3

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

14.307

14

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

2

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

14.349

15

Zarco Johann

5

FRA

1

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

15.093

16

Quartararo Fabio

20

FRA

0

Petronas Yamaha SRT

Yamaha

15.905

17

Oliveira Miguel

88

POR

0

Red Bull KTM Tech 3

KTM

16.377

18

Abraham Karel

17

CZE

0

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

22.972

19

Rabat Tito

53

SPA

0

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

23.039

20

Syahrin Hafizh

55

MAL

0

Red Bull KTM Tech 3

KTM

43.242

21

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

0

Aprilia Racing Test Team

Aprilia

DNF

22

Miller Jack

43

AUS

0

Pramac Racing

Ducati

DNF

23

Bagnaia Francesco

63

ITA

0

Pramac Racing

Ducati

DNF

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Gallery

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Location Information

The fabulous Losail International Circuit lies on the outskirts of Doha, the capital city of Qatar. Built in little over a year, the track cost $58 million USD and required round-the-clock dedication from almost 1,000 workers in order to get it ready for the inaugural event – the Marlboro Grand… read more.

Location Information

The fabulous Losail International Circuit lies on the outskirts of Doha, the capital city of Qatar. Built in little over a year, the track cost $58 million USD and required round-the-clock dedication from almost 1,000 workers in order to get it ready for the inaugural event – the Marlboro Grand… read more.